FAST FIXIN CAKE (and I mean fast!...a great emergency recipe!) 1 pkg white or yellow cake mix 1/2 C water 2 eggs 1/4 C oil 1 can (20-23 oz) pie filling (I like cherry) Preheat over to 350. Pour oil into 9 x 13 pan- tilt pan to cover bottom. Put cake mix, eggs & water into pan. Stir w/ fork or spoon until blended (about 2 minutes). Scrape sides & even out batter. Spoon filling into batter. Fold in w/ fork just enough to create marbled effect. Bake 35-45 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. Cooled cake may be drizzled w/ powdered sugar frosting over the top if desired. (Just mix powdered sugar and milk to desired consistency).

Trent's Pumpkin Pie* Ingredients: 1 pumpkin, about 3 pounds 2 cans of sweetened condensed milk 3 eggs 4 tsp vanilla 5 ounces (by volume) white sugar, or more to taste 6 ounces (by volume) brown sugar, or more to taste 7 tsp pumpkin pie spices, or more to taste** To Do: - Cut pumpkin in half, scoop out seeds and bake cut side up on a cookie sheet at 450 degrees for about an hour. Then cool and scoop out the soft pumpkin. - Drain pumpkin in a colander for about an hour. - Mix all the ingredients together, holding out one cup of pumpkin. Puree in a food processor. Then mix in the remaining pumpkin. - Place into a pie crust, homemade if possible. - Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, then 350 degrees until done. The Pie is done when it is cracking on top and the crust is approaching a mahogany brown color. - Cool thoroughly and enjoy. * or feel free to use butternut squash, or cushaw, or acorn squash, or really just about any winter melon that fits your fancy. ** I mix my own by grinding together orange peel, lots of cinnamon, some crystallized ginger, allspice and nutmeg, but you can also use the store-bought stuff.

Apple Pie: Dough 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour 1 tsp salt 1 tsp sugar 1 cup unsalted butter 1/4 cup ice water Filling 1/2 cup sugar, plus one tbsp for sprinkling 3 tablespoons all purpose flour, plus more for rolling dough 1 tsp ground cinnamon 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg 1/4 tsp salt 6 Rome Beauty apples (about 3 lbs, if you can't find these, use your favorite baking apple) 2 tbsp lemon juice 1 crust (see above) - chilled Dough In a food processor (or just use a fork, it works just as well) pulse sugar and salt together. Cut butter into small pieces. Add to the flour mixture. Pulse or cut into flour until mixture resembles course meal with a few pea size pieces remaining. Add ice water, pulse until crumbly but holds together when squeezed (if necessary add up to 4 more tbsp of ice water, one tbsp at a time). Do not overmix. Turn out onto a work surface; knead once or twice, until dough comes together. Form into a flattened disk, wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least one hour or up to 3 days. Filling Preheat oven to 350. In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, flour, and salt. Peel and core apples, slice 1/2 inch thick. Add to bowl. Add lemon juice. Gently toss to coat. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to a 20 in - round, 1/8 in thick. Wrap dough around a rolling pin, carefully unroll over a 9 - in pie plate leaving overhang. To fit into pan, lift edge of dough, and let dough drape inward. Use kitchen scissors to cut to a 3 inch overhang (if it were me, I wouldn't do it, the crust is so tasty you'll want to keep all of it.) Mound apple mixture into pie dough. Gently fold edges over apples. Lightly brush dough with cold water and sprinkle with remaining sugar. Bake on a rimmed baking sheet, turning once. Bake until crust is golden and filling is set (it will be juicy but not runny), about 1 1/2 hours (tent with foil if crust browns too quickly). Cool completely before serving.

Oh yeah, you can use boxed flan too if you don't want to deal with your own recipe. I made it this way for mother's day and I didn't want to mess it up since I hadn't ever made flan before. It worked great.

Here is the baklava recipe my hubby recently made. He said he used a bit less sugar and I know he didn't use rosewater. k

Guinness Ice Cream

... Take two scoops of this Add this - And you get this - A Stout Beer Float. Good stuff.

Personal preferences: This is very rich & sweet so you don't need to cut large pieces (unless you wish to send someone into a diabetic coma!) Make the bottom layer slightly thinner, then use the remaining to make more of the crumbles. Decrease the amt of choc chips & sweetened condensed milk to make the chocolate layer a little thinner. Use more raspberry jam for more flavor. Decrease the amount of choc chips on top or it overpowers the cream cheese layer completely. Garnish with fresh raspberries before serving. Chocolate Raspberry Bars ¾ c pecan halves 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp ½ c dark brown sugar, packed 2 c flour ¾ t salt, divided 1¼ c sweetened, condensed milk 3 c semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided 8 oz cream cheese, room temp ⅓ c granulated sugar 1 large egg ½ t vanilla ½ c seedless raspberry jam In a large sauté pan, toast the nuts for about 10 minutes, until they are slightly brown & emit a nutty scent. Remove them from the heat, cool and coarsely chop. Preheat oven to 350°. Butter a 9x13 baking pan. In the large bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter until it is soft & creamy. Keeping the mixer at medium speed, beat in the dark brown sugar. Remove the beater & scrape it. Stir the flour, ½ t salt and the nuts into the butter mixture until very well combined. Measure out 2¼ c of this mixture & set the rest aside. Press the measured butter mixture into the prepared pan. Bake for 10 minutes or until edges are golden brown. While this is baking, combine 2 c of chocolate chips with the condensed milk in a heavy saucepan. Cook, stirring, over low heat until chocolate is melted. Remove the crust from the oven & pour chocolate mixture immediately over the hot crust. Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese until it is very smooth. Add granulated sugar & beat once more until smooth. Add egg, vanilla & remaining ¼ t salt & beat again until very smooth. In a small bowl, stir jam until it is smooth. Sprinkle remaining butter-nut mixture over the chocolate in your baking dish. Ladle the jam evenly over the butter-nut mixture. Ladle the cream cheese mixture over the jam layer and sprinkle the remaining cup of chocolate chips over the cream cheese. Bake for 30-35 minutes until the cream cheese layer is set & no longer liquid in the middle. Cool on a rack. Makes 32 bars.